president clinton signed even more republican spending cuts into law. the team of clinton and gingrich in the 1990s did not kick the deficit can down the road, they kicked it out of the budget. they effectively eliminated the deficit, and had us on the way to actually building a budget surplus. a surplus that was going to be necessary to help financial future government spending, including two wars that no one knew were coming. that surplus was wiped out in the stroke of a pen when president bush signed his tax cuts into law. the tax cuts that have contributed mightily to our deficit and debts. tax cuts that were, of course, voted for by john boehner. joining me now are karen finney, former dnc communications director and ezra klein columnist for the washington post. both are msnbc analysts. it eliminates history that they lived themselves that some of them deserve credit for, which was what they actually did do in fighting deficits during the 1990s, that newt gingrich and president clinton both contributed a great deal to that effort. >> right, but tha